Chinese, Japanese Leaders in Rare Meeting

April 23, 2015

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks onWednesday at a regional summit in Indonesia, in what was only the second time the two leaders have met since taking power.
The two leaders held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta, according to Japanese officials, who did not specify how long the meeting lasted or what topics were discussed.
Earlier, Prime Minister Abe and President Xi exchanged greetings and politely shook hands at a photo session to kick off the conference, which many hoped would serve as a chance for Tokyo and Beijing to mend ties.
Relations between the two powerful Asian nations have been strained over a territorial dispute and what Beijing sees as Tokyo’s reluctance to atone for its colonial-era aggression toward China and other Asian neighbors.
A projection screen shows the Japanese prime minister deliver his speech during a plenary session at the Asia-Africa Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 22, 2015. In a speech Wednesday, Prime Minister Abe expressed “deep remorse” for Japan’s wartime past, but failed to repeat the language used in previous official apologies to the victims of Japan’s colonial aggression.
Most notably, the conservative Japanese leader left out a phrase referring to Japan’s “heartfelt apology” for its past. He also omitted references to Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression.”
In the lead-up to the event, the conservative Japanese leader had told local media outlets there was no need for him to reiterate the same landmark apologies made by his predecessors in 1995 and 2005.
Instead, the closely watched speech made only passing reference to Japan’s past militarism, noting Tokyo had “feelings of deep remorse over the past war” but insisting its leaders had long ago committed to the principles of peace.
Prime Minister Abe also took a veiled swipe at China, saying the international community should “never allow to go unchecked the use of force by the mightier to twist the weaker around.”
China has been accused of using its rising economic and military strength to bully its neighbors into submission and is involved in a worsening dispute with Tokyo over a group of strategic islands in the East China Sea.
Another persistent source of irritation is Japanese leaders’ insistence on visiting a controversial Tokyo shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including some convicted World War II-era war criminals.
Over 100 Japanese lawmakers paid respects at the Yasukuni Shrine on Wednesday, though the visit’s controversy appeared to be lessened because of the absence of any cabinet members.